(CNN) - The Obamacare website, plagued by major problems since its rollout at the start of the month, should be functioning smoothly by the end of November, according to the official now in charge of fixing it.

Jeffrey Zients told reporters on Friday that an outside contractor will handle the task of resolving technical problems that have become a serious political flashpoint for the Obama administration.

soundoff(226 Responses)

Obacare will bring premiums health cost down in 20% in 5 years, republicans know that,insurance industry won't pay one cent for republicans in election times

October 25, 2013 02:03 pm at 2:03 pm |

PJ

I truly support our President; however, he doesn't have the best advisers. I hope Michelle takes a bigger private role. The President needs some serious help on who to hire and trust.

October 25, 2013 02:03 pm at 2:03 pm |

A.P.

I'll believe it when I see it....and I have a feeling I won't be seeing it any time soon!!!

October 25, 2013 02:05 pm at 2:05 pm |

David

After seeing how high my HMO is under obamacare, I am considering cancelling my health care after 35 yrs. All it equates to is more welfare that the middle class is paying for.

October 25, 2013 02:05 pm at 2:05 pm |

82ndABNVET

So you need 2 more full months after the OCT 1 kickoff of the site to get it working? And this is after you had YEARS to set it up in the first place?

You could have just hired the people that did Amazon or Overstock, or any other place that uses the internet as their primary means of selling their goods to create it.

Reports that the government didnt even test the full spectrum until a week before it launched? Then not delaying it, knowing full well it would not work?

This is why the government should NOT be in charge of this.

October 25, 2013 02:05 pm at 2:05 pm |

Matt

And it will only cost an additional billion dollars to fix it.

October 25, 2013 02:05 pm at 2:05 pm |

Mayveeeh

Anonymous

This will work if the REP governors do what is right for that segment of the population that works but is too poor to buy health insurance. This is not a new idea. This has been around as the REP counter proposal to Kennedy and was what Gingrich proposed in detail against the CLINTON single payer.

This is in place in MA and works fine

The roll out of the website (not the ACA itself) is lousy -although I made it work just to see local benefits. As I note above – the WH had to design this in stealth while the nation watched REPS vote 40 times to repeal it and constrained the budget for it. Had REPS supported a REPlike bill – the role out would be better – although not problem free

Remember this give and take a year from now when it works well in covering people and we shift focus to cutting costs and hopefully do not have a repeat of accusations of Death Squads and the GOV between you and your doctor

October 25, 2013 02:05 pm at 2:05 pm |

VEW2012

AaaH! Of course, the government always gives the contract to the lowest bidder. I say in this case the lowest bidder cgi should do the repair at no more cost to the taxpayer. They must have set up the Pay Pal site.
Thankfully, the ACA will be up and running with plenty of time for people to be signed up. I'm sure the Affordable Care Act will work and be an asset to American citizens. The Medicare system works for seniors....for Part B a month premium is paid by seniors, and Part D Drug Benefit has a monthly premium that seniors pay....and all of those have been a benefit to the millions of seniors in this country. The premiums for those are centralized single payer and is basically mandatory all handled by CMS. The Affordable Care Act would have been less burdensome had it been centralized and paid right along with the FICA withdrawal on pay check. But in any case healthcare is a necessity and should be considered a right promised under the Constitution under "promote the general welfare".

October 25, 2013 02:06 pm at 2:06 pm |

StevenR

They are doing a GREAT JOB. I work in IT building systems much like this sharing data from a bunch of distinct databases running various software, and that a system this complicated is coming up AT ALL ANYWHERE NEAR the timeframe established by law (read CONGRESS) is fantastic. That the GOP is all over it only says what a intellectually bankrupt group of obstructionists they really are. Come ON! The GOP knows that, in a month or two, when it is all working, PEOPLE WILL LIKE IT and the GOP will discover the boogeyman they have been chasing just turned around and bit them in the tail. The GOP won't be able to even win the obscenely gerrymandered districts in safe state. Bu-bye GOP. Good riddance.

October 25, 2013 02:06 pm at 2:06 pm |

fatlip

Looking forward to affordable care. Thank goodness Obama had the courage to tackle this problem, simply tired of getting raped by republicans and the health insurance industry. Too bad republicans can not offer any constructive ideas instead of watching out for big business. AWESOME!

October 25, 2013 02:07 pm at 2:07 pm |

afnmvet

Fixed by the end of November of what year.

October 25, 2013 02:07 pm at 2:07 pm |

BFOTO

And we should believe him why?

October 25, 2013 02:07 pm at 2:07 pm |

jason

just like it was going to be ready on Oct 1....

October 25, 2013 02:09 pm at 2:09 pm |

Shadowman65

Another month, huh?

I am in the IT vortex trying to put up the Health Marketplace, and for all of those that are anxious for it to go live on 11/30 – seriously – good for you!

Because if you had any idea of how poorly executed this work is being managed by our government, you would be appalled. Wasted money, slipping deadlines, and worst of all – no accountability.

.... and for the record: I'm a democrat who once supported this law. Not anymore.

Everyone is blaming the contractors and not the oneS we already know are screw ups. As a network admin Iknow the unrealistic expectations of some clients. I can only imagine how disconnected the government is when it comes to the IT field.

October 25, 2013 02:11 pm at 2:11 pm |

snods-are-us

and for all you mean people out there... just hope that you do not have to fill out an insurance application and have to check "yes" in the box that asks if you ever had cancer. Your tune will quickly change. I had cancer. My own mom has been cured of cancer twice, then macular degeneration, then had a heart valve replacement. She was treated with dignity and respect by the government Medicare program in the finest hospitals in Boston. Now she is looking at her 90th birthday and works out on a recumbent bike every day and is self sufficient. Do you work out every day or do you spend all your time looking for the negatives in life?

October 25, 2013 02:13 pm at 2:13 pm |

Thomas

He said it will be fully functional by the end of November .

So all the sniveling babies posting here should just suck on there thumbs till then and pray for it to fail .

Until thin , we can read you a story , Green Eggs an Ham before nap time , would that make you happy ?

October 25, 2013 02:14 pm at 2:14 pm |

Stephen Thomas

Fixed? I've been reading CNN for months and didn't know it was broken?

October 25, 2013 02:14 pm at 2:14 pm |

oreo

It is doomed to fail because dotgov can't do anything effectively but bomb foreign nations.

October 25, 2013 02:14 pm at 2:14 pm |

raul c.

Shadowman65... I don't recall you or the GOP making a big stink when the subpart D of Medicare under that crazy Cowboy Bush had all those glitches. Get real and move on since you are wasting time....

October 25, 2013 02:14 pm at 2:14 pm |

Patrick Portland

Why does CNN continue to be the mouthpiece for this corrupt administration instread of asking tough questions like journalists are supposed to do? Where are the comparisons and reality checks to when this nightmare was first introduced and where we are now. Obama promised you could keep your doctor; your premiums would not go up; it would only cost $900B [only is relative – it's a ridiculous sum of our money to fix a problem that never really existed]; and would lower the deficit. Reality check – many will not be able to keep their doctors and many doctors will decide not to accept this insurance; 100's of thousands have received notices that their insurance companies are dropping them; premiums have increased dramatically for most and deductibles have increased as well. If this was George Bush's idea, the reporting would have been a much different flavor.

October 25, 2013 02:15 pm at 2:15 pm |

Mike

I love how when people site that we, as Americans pay 50% more for healthcare, they are forgetting the elephant in the room. Americans are carrying the weight for everyone else. No other countries have the ability to generate revenue for new treatments the way we do. And if you can think long term... If American's arent paying for them, medical technology and pharmaceutical companies wont develop them anymore.

October 25, 2013 02:15 pm at 2:15 pm |

Natrldiver

"If you like your current plan, you will be able to keep it. Let me repeat that: If you like your plan, you'll be able to keep it" – Barak Obama 7/21/2009

"Kaiser [of California] sent [cancellation] notices to 160,000 people across the state." – San Diego Union Tribune 10/22/2013

Google/Snopes/Bing it, this stuff is happening and you still believe what this administration is feeding you?!

October 25, 2013 02:16 pm at 2:16 pm |

kc

So the firm that created the disaster is off the hook and an outside contractor (read spending more taxpayer money on a sole source contract) will perform a miracle in 36 days? Yeah, that's fixable.

October 25, 2013 02:18 pm at 2:18 pm |

mkuske

Director of HHS, Kathleen Sebelius told The Wall Streets Journal that they needed five years to develop the site and one year to test it but only got two years to develop and no time to test (apparently at Obama's direction). If that's the case, that would mean there is still three years worth of work to do an a year's worth of testing. How on earth do these bozo's expect to get it done in 36 days??? Turns out the Republicans were right in that it needed to be delayed at least a year.